PCANZ Youth Printmaking Award 2019

The PCANZ Youth Printmaking Award was presented by Faith Thomas, PCANZ member in Cambridge, to Cassandra Hill Year 13  from St Peters’ School , Cambridge who won the Award of $500. The judge was Margaret Aull, formerly from Tumu Herenga Toi - Curator Manager Ahua Gallery. She spoke of the resilience and courage it takes for young artists to exhibit and enter competitions, encouraging future participation in the National Youth Art Awards and beyond. She also acknowledged the work behind the scenes of sponsors, teachers, parents and supporters.

Cassandra’s print was a plexiplate drypoint  called “Suppression”  In this work she communicates the following — “ In the world we live in today there have been many cases of people putting others down by forcing them to fit in their expectations. This has led to people keeping their true personalities and desires locked away to live up to their expectations of who they should be like which is no way to live. This print symbolizes how people keep pushing your head down whether through actions or words, to force you to be someone you're not. But to live the way you want to, you have to keep your head held high and brush off the hand of expectations with a smile. “